Page 54 of On The Run

The two younger men eyed Kai, who eventually sighed. “I don’t typically give out information on our clients, even old ones, but I think these are extenuating circumstances. Go ‘head, Sage.”

Sage slumped into the corner seat of my sectional. Meanwhile, his brother had completely taken over my desk and overloaded it with equipment I wouldn’t be able to name if my life depended on it.

“So, what do you know about Aiden’s past?”

This was gonna be a long conversation. Bronx and I sat down on the other side of the sectional. “Not much. I know it’s been him and his father, Manny, for most of his life. I get the impression they left his other parent for their own safety, and that’s about it. He keeps his secrets close to his vest.”

Sage scowled. Those gray eyes bore into me, and I had to resist the urge to squirm. “Well, you would too if you had his life.”

Kai leveled Sage with a look. “Sage. Stick to the story.”

Sage shot Kai a dirty look but continued. “I don’t want to go into a lot of detail. That’s Aiden’s story to tell and honestly, I doubt I even know half of it, but you got the gist. His pops, Manny, escaped in the middle of the night with who you know as Aiden when he was four years old.”

Bronx gasped next to me, and I understood the reaction. I couldn’t even imagine what that must have been like for them. I also noticed that “who I know as Aiden,” as in that wasn’t his real name. I saved that for later since I had a feeling Sage wouldn’t appreciate interruptions. He kept talking. “Unfortunately, his father, whose name is Giovani Santino, didn’t let them go that easily. He’s been stalking them ever since. The two of them have constantly been on the run and in hiding.”

“God damn,” Bronx muttered under his breath.

“I guess that explains why Aiden said he moved around a lot, though I don’t understand why they didn’t go to the cops.”

Both Sage and Aspen made a sound at that, and I kind of got it. From the little bit we looked up about their past, and what I remembered from all the media coverage, the cops had been called on their father multiple times and they were always paid off to look the other way or worked directly with him. But did Aiden’s other parent have those kinds of resources?

“Unfortunately, the cops can’t always help. In their situation, there were a few reasons.” Sage looked at Kai again, as if asking for permission. Kai gave him the go-ahead. “The first reason is that Giovani Santino was a high-ranking government official. In the last few years, a lot of things came to light and he’s been relieved of his duties, but when Manny escaped with Aiden, he was afraid to risk it because of his connections.”

I guessed that made sense, but I knew there was more to it. “And the other reason is that Manny is not Aiden’s biological father. He married Gio when Aiden, who was born Austin Santino, was a little under a year old. Gio never allowed Manny to legally adopt Aiden or gave him any parental rights.”

The implications of that hit me like a hammer. “So, he technically kidnapped Aiden?”

Sage swallowed and looked away. “Yeah. And of course, the asshole reported it as a kidnapping. I don’t know what Aiden’s told you but before he met me, they’d been living in rent by the week hotels or crappy apartments that didn’t do background checks and working multiple under-the-table jobs that didn’t want or need a social security number. It still didn’t stop Gio from finding them multiple times, but they always managed to get away.”

Fuck, I knew Aiden had a hard life, but I could never imagine that. Now, all of his fears started to make sense. Of course he was terrified to trust and settle into a relationship. I would be the same. And Manny . . . I tried to imagine that was Gray and me, if I weren’t biologically Gray’s father and I had to take him from his mother like that. The courage it must have taken to make that decision. It also made me wonder just how bad things were that Manny willingly spent his life on the run as a wanted man to protect his son.

I had so many questions, but even if Sage had details, I knew he wasn’t going to tell me, and I respected that. I already felt guilty that I learned all of this from someone other than Aiden. But if it allowed me to find him and keep him safe, I’d do what I had to. I stuck with a question I figured Sage could answer.

“How did you meet them?”

Sage got a faraway, haunted look, and for a second, I wasn’t sure if he even heard me, but then he began speaking again. “Two years ago, I interned at a hospital while finishing up my undergrad. Aiden was admitted as a patient.” Sage was staring in my direction, but he was looking right through me, and I knew he was plagued by nightmares right now, even awake. I just wondered if they were from his past or Aiden’s?

“Gio found them. A-And it was bad. Aiden was almost killed. I saw him and immediately knew that he was like my siblings and me. That he was being hurt by someone who should be protecting him. So I went to Kai and asked him to help Aiden and Manny.”

“We were able to protect their identities while they were in the hospital. And then, once they were released, Aspen did his thing. He got them fail-safe identities so they could get real jobs, go to school, rent a decent place, and still be protected from Santino. Aspen made sure the kidnapping charges were taken off his record, and birth certificates and other documents were made to show Aiden as Manny’s biological son,” Kai finished the explanation.

My eyes found Bronx’s, and he seemed as shocked as I was. The story was almost unbelievable, but everything was falling into place and making more sense right now. I thought about all the times I asked Aiden to open up to me and how scared that made him, and it made me feel terrible. No wonder he was scared to take that step.

“So, what happened this time?” Bronx asked. “How were they found, assuming that’s what happened? Even if they took a few steps to integrate into society, they are still very careful.”

Kai’s eyes darkened. “That’s what Aspen has been trying to figure out. And I do believe they were taken. Aiden and Manny both knew to contact us before they ran if they felt they needed to, but we’d heard nothing until you called Sage. When they’ve run in the past, they never took the time to tell anyone. While they have more connections now, like Manny’s doctors and Aiden’s school and job, it seems highly unlikely they would have bothered if they got scared and needed to leave. Besides, the window of time seems too short.”

“I don’t think Aiden ran. Besides the text he sent me that he was coming back, some things he said to me indicated he didn’t want to run anymore. He told me to look for him if he disappeared. Also, Manny wasn’t doing well. I think it would have had to be horrific circumstances for Aiden to take off with him.”

“They didn’t take off. I got into the security cameras at their home.”

I was up off the couch and crowding Aspen faster than I had ever moved in my life. I was focused on the computer, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aspen tense up at my closeness. Before I could blink, both Kai and Sage were in my face. “Back up a little, man,” Kai told me, his voice deep and rumbly and not brooking any argument.

“Oh shit, sorry.” The last thing I wanted was to make him uncomfortable. Aspen smiled up at me apologetically.

“It’s ok. They get a little protective. I just don’t like someone coming up from behind me like that.”

He was so earnest about it that I felt terrible. Before I could apologize again, Aspen turned back to the security footage he somehow accessed. “See right there?” He pointed to the corner of the screen where I could make out the front door.

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